An Increasing Number of Americans Want to Call New Zealand Home

Canada isn't the only country Americans have considered moving to after the election, with new numbers from New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs showing a high rise in citizenship applications starting just weeks after the 2016 presidential results came in.

According to the Associated Press, the number of Americans who applied for a grant of citizenship (citizenship for those who don’t have family connections in the country) in the 12 weeks following the election rose 70 percent from the year before, going from 100 applications to 170.

For Americans who have a parent from the country, applications rose from 183 to 203, while work-visa arrivals from the U.S. rose from 216 to 254 in the last year.

The department also told AP that just two days after the election, a total of 4,146 Americans visited their website to find out about citizenship, a staggering rise from the 305 who did the same the year before.

“It’s an extremely livable place and you can see and palpably feel the difference in how society is organized, and what people prioritize,” Alanna Irving, a startup entrepreneur who moved to the country six year ago, told AP.

Though the rise in interest is high, the total number of Americans applying for citizenship in the country is still low, according to the AP, in a country where sheep still outnumber residents.